Sepp Kuss completely evaporates from the battle for victory on Alto da Fóia: "I just didn't have the legs"

On the final climb of stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve, to the top of Fóia, one of the men who wasn't in the lead group was Team Visma | Lease a Bike's climber Sepp Kuss.

In a stage divided into two parts, it was in the second, the toughest, that we saw Visma together with Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe take the reins of the peloton in an attempt to whittle down the advantage of a group of escapees. Once done, the battle for ideal positions to enter the penultimate climb of the day escalated and put some of the candidates for the stage win and the general classification through difficulties. This included the American rider.

At the end of the day, Sepp Kuss only crossed the finish line in 39th place, four minutes behind the day's winner, and the 30-year-old climber admitted to weakness on team website afterwards: "We had to be in a good position for the penultimate climb from the descent, but that was hard enough for me. I just didn't have the legs," Kuss explained honestly.

"What does this mean for the rest of the week? I don't know. Today was today and now we have two sprint stages and a time trial ahead of us. It's definitely a good race to get back into the rhythm. When the race is as hard as it was today, that happens automatically. You have to work hard and suffer to stay in the group. It was a tough day."

Kuss will thus continue to build up his fitness, gaining competitive pace and working to protect Jonas Vingegaard, who keeps his aspirations for victory in the final general classification intact, despite only placing 6th in today's stage and losing some time on the road and at the finish line with the bonuses for João Almeida of UAE Team Emirates - XRG.